Small Biz Tech Talk ™

Growing your business means employing IT marketing techniques and getting out in the community to mingle with people that are decision makers.  You need to find people most likely to be decision makers to make the greatest impact as part of an IT marketing plan.  

If your target audience is small business owners and managers, you will probably meet a lot of bank branch managers upon a first IT marketing campaign attempt, but these will probably not be ideal clients.  Similarly, you might meet non-profit organization executive directors that don’t have much money to spend, or people working at Fortune 1,000 companies that are too big for your current level.

Decide before starting your IT marketing efforts what type of decision maker you want to reach and maximize your attendance at the right trade group meetings, conferences or networking functions you go to.

IT Marketing:  Partner Programs

When you join a partner or reseller program, you increase your visibility in the local community.  If you join Microsoft Certified Partner Program as a smaller firm, you need to find out who the local field representative is and make friends.  Shake hands, exchange business cards and attach your name with your face in his/her mind.  Then follow up with the field rep. as part of your IT marketing efforts and send emails every couple weeks to update on your progress.  You can even try to get together for coffee a couple times a year for ideas on opportunities and general conversation.

IT Marketing:  What Are the Problems?

Ask the people you meet through IT marketing efforts what problems they are running into with people they talk to in business and how you might be able to help with these problems.  Are there any people that are part of channel programs that might want to partner with you?  Your local channel representatives are a great source for sniffing out opportunities and problems in your community and help expand your IT marketing effectiveness.

Blogged By:  Joshua Feinberg

CEO and president of computer business Hewlett Packard stated late Friday he had allowed third-party investigators to use illegal tactics to get information about internal leaks.  He admitted to approval of emails with false information to be sent to those within the computer business suspected of revealing sensitive information to the media.  

Hurd apologized at a press conference held at HP’s Palo Alto headquarters and stated that the team of investigators had told him of their plans in February to send false emails.  He said he approved the particular naming convention that was used in the resultant emails.  He also said he failed to read a report that described the final plan in March and missed cutting off illegal practices as a result.  Hurd announced at the conference that Chairwoman Patrician Dunn, head of the investigation resigned and that he’d be taking over her position.

The first stage of the computer business’ internal investigation began in January 2005 and was unsuccessful at determining the source of the leaks.  The second phase began in January of this year, and it was during this particular time that poor judgment and tactics were used.  Hurd extended his deepest apologies to press and employees affected by the investigative improprieties.  

Experts don’t anticipate that Hurd will suffer any consequences for his involvement in the computer business scandal.  

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit

If you are involved in computer consulting, you need to conduct research on a prospect before you even meet him.  You have to accept that you will spend money on the initial consultation as part of your computer consulting business.  

The sales process is more about pre-sales that stresses the consultation aspect.  You need to communicate professionalism and how your services are special and potentially more valuable than others in your field.  If you take a real interest in prospects’ businesses, their problems and then get a handle on their problems to come up with a viable solution you will have a better chance of closing a sale quickly.  

Is there Dirt?

You might find dirt on prospects before the initial consultation that makes you unwilling to accept their business.  Because the computer consulting sales call is an interview for both your computer consulting company and the prospect, you should pay attention to strange things you find during the process of doing research and heed warning signs.  

Your Time is Incredibly Valuable

You will need a half an hour to an hour to compile introductory packets for prospects, spend the same amount of time driving to the call and will probably not start or finish the consultation on time.  You can expect to spend two to three hours on a typical computer consulting sales call.  If you are billing, for example, $75 per hour for your services, this means the process will cost you $225 even before gas, parking, tolls and other expenses.  This cost is why doing homework before the call to determine whether a computer consulting prospect is a good fit for your business is essential.  Qualify them as well as you can so you can avoid wasting time and resources.

Blogged By:  Computer Consulting Kit

Ever since computer business Apple moved the iMac all-in-one desktop computer to Intel Core 2 Duo processors and lowered prices to under $1,000 per machine, the company has been enjoying a greater presence in the market.  This effort from the computer business will hopefully position Apple to gain a larger share from PC companies.

Apple released a $999 iMac with a 17-inch screen, 1.83Hz Core 2 Duo processor, 512 Mbytes of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM that can be increased to 2 Gbytes and a 160-Gbyte hard drive.  Up until recently similar iMacs could not be purchased for any less than $1,299.

Also new from the computer business is a 24-inch screen iMac available for $1,999 and a 20-inch model with a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo processor for $1,4999 plus a 17-inch model with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor for $1,199.  Apple resellers stated that the computer business’ Mac computers have been selling very well since the beginning of 2006.

Experts state that 60 percent of those that bought the computer business’ machines right after they switched to Intel were Mac users wanting to upgrade, with the remaining 40 percent being former PC users.  Apple’s Intel switch and new pricing options are giving major PC companies like Dell serious competition.  Many solution providers are stating that the Mac operating system OSX works better on Intel than on PowerPC.  They also state that this switch could give the computer business a larger presence within the SMB market.  

Apple has been particularly competitive with Dell in pricing, which is huge news considering Dell was always the dominant low-price winner in the industry.  The switch from computer business Apple has been developing for about the past two years rather quickly, and great changes can be seen when comparing Macs offered in 2004 to Macs currently being offered.

Added By:  Computer Consulting Kit